


The Befriending of Rhodey

by Violettavonviolet



Series: MIT friendships [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A lot of hugs, Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, BAMF Edwin Jarvis, Child Neglect, Friendship, Gen, Genius Tony Stark, Howard Stark Is a Dick, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, MIT Era, Male Friendship, Swearing, Teenage Tony Stark, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, a minor drinks alcohol, this was mostly written at three am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violettavonviolet/pseuds/Violettavonviolet
Summary: Tony wasn’t hiding, he totally wasn’t. Okay, maybe a little. All right, Tony was totally hiding. He was hiding from his roommate.or;How Tony got to know Rhodey.It is epic and also the start of the best friendship in the entire universe.
Relationships: Edwin Jarvis & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Series: MIT friendships [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766842
Comments: 1
Kudos: 82





	The Befriending of Rhodey

**Author's Note:**

> THIS CAN BE READ WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF THE OTHER STORY BUT IT WOULD STILL BE ADVISABLE TO READ IT FIRST!
> 
> Hey y'all,  
> im a day late and im very very sorry.  
> But I have a good reason, you might not know this but I have very strong allergies and because of them I have to take pills. those pills make me very very tired and I mean not leaving the bed tired sometimes.  
> Sooo, I could neither work on a fic nor on schoolwork for the entire week and t totally sucked. Well, anyway, I am now back with this monster of a fic. I apologize in advance because this was mostly written very late at night because my pills stop than and than im hyper but also like consider that I do not have any kind of concentration whatsoever so yeahhhh.  
> Also im binge watching agents of Shield again and its amazing lol. Im going to try and get another fic out tomorrow but im not really sure if I can so pls don't be disappointed if I don't

Tony wasn’t hiding, he totally wasn’t. Okay, maybe a little. All right, Tony was totally hiding. He was hiding from his roommate. Granted he had never met him before, but he didn’t really want to so-hiding. It had started with the very real need to avoid his roommate, but now it had developed into a game. A game of how long can I avoid my roommate before he catches me. Tony had met him shortly on the moving day, but ever since then he tiptoed out of their dorm before the sun was up and either spent his entire night in the labs or he just came back at like three in the morning when his roommate would be asleep.  
There was still the question of just why he was hiding-avoiding-his roommate.  
You see, Tonys father was rich, like rich rich, and Tony was a fifteen year old genius in MIT, so it was a fair assumption that his roommate would either want his-Howard’s-money or he would not take him serious because of his age. 

The coursework in MIT was harder than High school, but it was still laughably easy, so Tony could spent even more time in the labs, and for the first time in his life, nobody was there to fret over him or to tell him that he should eat, sleep, whatever. He could science all day, every day, and as far as Tony was concerned it was pure heaven.  
Of course, his avoiding and vanishing scheme didn’t last forever, and in the third week, Tony slept in a little and only woke up about five minutes before his roommates alarm would go off. He thankfully went to sleep in his clothes so he only needed to brush his teeth and then he could sprint out of the door. Sadly, that didn’t work out as he had planned, and he got caught. It was a fairly awkward conversation because Rhodes-his roommate-asked him if he was the younger sibling of Tony, and Tony’s only reaction was a laugh, before explaining that he had in fact no siblings, and that Tony was his roommate.  
Then Rhodes-or Rhodey as he had mentally dabbed him-had to leave because he was late to his training, and Tony contemplated just going away whilst Rhodey was gone, but he decided that it was time to talk to the guy he was supposed to live with for at least a year.  
So he stayed, and dutifully waited until Rhodey came back. 

He felt a little like a schoolboy waiting for the principle to come and scold hm about a broken window or some shit. He didn’t really know how real high schools worked, he had been in boarding schools his entire life, private ones who Howard had payed a lot of money to accommodate to Tony.  
In some ways it had been more of a home than the manor, he sure had spent a lot more time there than at home. Not that he had ever really liked the place, it was too cold, but then again, everything was cold in Tony’s life. He shook his head, he didn’t like to think about depressing things, things like his entire life in general. He should think of the next upgrade for the missile he was designing for the company instead, yeah, thinking about missiles was safe. 

Then, Tony spotted something shiny glinting in the light of the morning sun.  
He stood up, walked over and inspected his finding. It was a little side thing he had started a while ago, a combat net radio, made for the army. It wasn’t yet completely functional, and without so much as thinking about it, Tony grabbed a screwdriver and a wrench and started fiddling with it. He shoved the screwdriver behind his ear when he no longer had a need for it, a habit that had started when he was eight and trying to get a motor to start running.  
That was also the position Rhodey found him in ten minutes later. Tony nearly jumped in surprise, letting go of the wrench in his hand in the process, startled by Rhodeys sudden appearance on the other bed. He swore under his breath, Rhodey had somehow just teleported there, he was sure of it, he would have totally heard him coming if it was any other way.  
Remembering the manners Jarvis had tried to teach him when he was seven, Tony started to apologize but thankfully, his roommate was pretty chill about it. He got lucky, Tony supposed, he had no posh rich dude as his roommate, and since this was MIT, that was the absolute jackpot. He didn’t think he could’ve handled anything else. 

Tony was only mildly offended at the look on Rhodeys face when he told him that he was fifteen. Really, he knew that not everybody got here this early but this was supposed to be a good school, why did everyone automatically assume that he was a dumbass.  
When the topic of his very obvious absent for the last three weeks arose, Tony had to fight back a blush, in hindsight it hadn’t been a good plan, and he tried to casually shrug it off, but he knew that Rhodey knew that he had been trying to avoid him.  
Luckily, the conversation changed towards a topic that Tony was far more comfortable with, his studies. He started to ramble, he knew he did. It was another one of the annoying habits he had collected over the years. If he just didn’t stop talking, the information that was really important got drowned out by the unimportant stuff, and nobody saw how important the stuff was to him.  
Again with the depressing childhood, Tony should just stop thinking about it, he was in Massachusetts until at the very least Christmas, so there was no reason for him to be thinking about something that was happening back in New York, or at a private boarding school in France. 

That conversation was the spark to what could only be described as a ‘power friendship’. Tony had no need to wake up so early anymore, so he didn’t. He also went back to their room during the days if he needed something, which came in pretty handy a few times. Everything was fine, really. He had even accepted a call from Jarvis the other night. Sure, it just reminded him of the stuff that he missed about home but it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to it. He was ashamed to admit that he nearly started to cry when he hear Jarvis greet him. He missed his butler dearly. Nobody had ever told him how hard adulting really was.  
He was pretty sure he hadn’t eaten a fruit since July, nobody had ever taught him how to cook or clean or anything really. He had been at boarding school with a whole bunch of janitors that got paid enough to do their job right. There was no need for him to do anything but learn and now, everything was collapsing. Not that he wasn’t thoroughly enjoying it. It was very easy to enjoy the unlimited time in the lab and the enormous amount of coffee he was allowed to inhale. But sometimes he wished for Jarvis to come and make him a real meal, maybe a roast or chicken breast or even a salad. He was fifteen for god’s sake, but he couldn’t cook and really he shouldn’t be living unsupervised. His father hadn’t cared about such things as human needs so really why should Tony care. He didn’t go to sleep that night. 

The day after that call, Rhodey brought up the fact that his family was so far away, and Tony had to hold back a bitter laugh. Sure his family was far away, but it wasn’t the family Rhodey was thinking of. He didn’t give a flying fuck about wether or not he saw his father or his mother, or at least he had told himself that often enough that it didn’t hurt anymore, not really. 

Tony had already known that his family wouldn’t want him back for Thanksgiving, so it shouldn’t have been such a surprise when Jarvis called him three days before and told him that both his parents were occupied and had no wish for him to come home. They were never home for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving wasn’t a public event so there was no need to pretend. He could hear the resigned pity in Jarvis voice and hated the Stark family just a bit more because of it. Jarvis told him that he would sent him a few cookies, and that he should go eat out or something but deep down both of them knew that Tony would be going on a science binge in the lab until thanksgiving was over. It had always been like that, they never celebrated Thanksgiving and Tony always hid the pain that that cause him.  
When he logged into his computer, he found a few new projects the company had sent him and he sighed. It looked like he would be working on them through Thanksgiving. He was grateful, really, he wouldn’t think about the abandonment this was if he had those projects to work on. He forced himself to smile, his public smile. No reason to get all moody with all the projects that were waiting for him, was there. 

The next few days went by in a rush, he barely noticed the nights changing into days and he only got out of the lab when the first few students arrived to carry on with their work after thanksgiving. He barely made it back to the dorm, stumbling into more than one door. Eventually he arrived, and he was completely ready to go to sleep but a project caught his eye and Tony just had to work on it, he knew that his father would be disappointed if it wasn’t done by tomorrow and as much as Tony liked to tell himself that Howards opinion meant nothing to him, it was still a lie. He looked around in search for a few parts and then made a deep dove into his closet full of technology to find a certain screw that was needed. He threw stuff around him as he got more frantic in his search. He knew that he had it in this room, but where could it be. Finally, he found it under his bed, and he didn’t even notice the chaos around him, he was just so happy to have it. That was also the position Rhodey found him in a couple of hours later, still working on this final project for his father.  
Rhodey was far less understanding of his need to finish than Tony had hoped for, and he was quickly made to go to bed. He was just about to protest but then his consciousness finally noticed how tired he was and he blacked out without another thought on his mind.  
A couple of days later, Rhodey asked him to join him and his family for Christmas. Tony was stunned, nobody had every invited him for, well, anything really. He was also very aware of the fact that his mother wanted him for the charity gala, like every year. Honestly, Tony could never decide if he dreaded or anticipated that thing. On the one hand he had an absolute aversion for any kind of gala, he didn’t like talking to business people, people ten times his age and ten times dumber than him but on the other hand, he was always happy to go home and see his parents for the first time in months. So he told Rhodey that he wouldn’t be able to go. He was actually very sad about it, but he would have liked to spent a loving Christmas with, well, people in general really.  
Luckily Rhodey gave him another option, a better one.  
He would visit Rhodey for Christmas but would come back before New Year’s Eve. It was the beat solution he had, and he told Jarvis to inform his mother. They wouldn’t really care, Tony knew. But he felt better knowing that his mother at least knew where he was. It should probably concern him that he knew his mother wouldn’t complain about her fifteen year old going to visit a family she didn’t know with an adult man, even if Rhodey was barely 18.  
But it didn’t because he met his mother from time to time. So, he told Rhodey the next time he was coherent enough to talk that he accepted the invitation. Rhodey seemed happy, or at least not displeased about it which was a surprise and again with the sadness, Tony chuckled. Only he would scold himself for thinking about his life.  
The best decisions were made drunk and or sleep deprived, he had learned that very young. Because in neither of those situations you think about it too much. That was actually pretty unhealthy if he ever thought about it, but as mentioned before he didn’t and he doesn’t 

So it was decided, Tony would go home with Rhodey. A few days beforehand they began to pack. It was a new experience for Tony, to pack for himself. Usually Jarvis did, and he would look over it and decide if he needed anything else. Man, if he heard himself talk he would hate himself. He was such a rich boy.  
They would be driving in Rhodey beat up little car all the way to Michigan and Tony was excited. This was just like a road trip! He had a few mixtapes of AC/DC that they played the entire drive, partly because Tony like the music but also because he knew it was annoying Rhodey and annoying Rhodey was one of his favorite pastimes. The snow was falling rapidly in the darkness of the night when they arrived at a house that was lit up with funky colorful Christmas lights and a snowman was in the front yard. Tony had never build one at their mansion. It wasn’t part of the aesthetic, his mother had told him when he had wanted to try it when he was five. 

Tony was fidgeting a lot, he was extremely nervous to meet Mama Rhodes and her husband.  
Rhodey had talked a lot about them, and it was very interesting to see what kind of relationship a normal family had with their son. Rhodey was his only example of normal and Tony was totally envious. He wished he could just go up to his pa and hug him, just because. He would probably get slapped in the face if he ever tried that. So he was more than surprised when Mama Rhodes hugged him after Rhodey. Why she would initiate contact with a boy she didn’t know, he had no idea but maybe that was just what normal people did.  
He awkwardly patted her back, he had no idea what to do and was more than a little grateful when she let go. 

He decidedly ignored Rhodeys pitying glance and instead followed her inside. That evening he got to know Rhodeys sister and father as well as his mother and he had to hold back tears more than once, How a family could be so collectively nice and accepting, he wondered if that was the norm or rather the odd one out. Either way it was fantastic and he could even overlook the air mattress he had to sleep on for the amount of cookies Mama Rhodes gave him. 

When Rhodey asked him why he wasn’t spending Christmas with his family, Tony first avoided his eyes but then decided that it wasn’t worth the ton of questions a not answer would follow.  
It hurt a little to talk to Rhodey about his family, which was the reason he usually avoided it, but now he felt compelled to answer. He tried to go about it casually, but t still hurt after all those years of always the same thing. He felt like his mission to come of as casual as possible had failed pretty badly, but luckily Rhodey didn’t ask anymore questions. 

The next few days were like a dream come true, he did everything he had always wanted to do, family activities and snowball fights. Eating cookies in front of the Tv and making a snowman, Tony couldn’t stop laughing and smiling the entire time. Christmas morning was special, he could feel the tension in the air and he knew how much t  
Rhodeys sister had anticipated the day. Tony never did. It was a day like every other, he always got anything he wanted or at least anything that would come if money was thrown at it. He had received a few gifts that was true but mostly out of formality, besides it wouldn’t look good to receive nothing and image was everything. 

The watch, an omega, was expensive and Tony nearly groaned. The money that his family spent on watches was astounding especially because Tony never wore any. They were just impractical. He didn’t need to know the time anyway. But he knew what it meant. He would wear this watch exactly once. To the gala on New Years Eve. Fitting into that pattern was the next present. A Tom Ford tie, burgundy this time. Last year it had been blue. The only present he could really appreciated were the cookies that Jarvis had no doubt sent. Mama Rhodes was a fantastic cook but nothing was better than Jarvis.  
The week he had, sadly came to an end and sooner rather than later Tony had to pack up and go. The driver they ha sent him was a silent one, but Tony didn’t really care. He just stared out of the window reminiscing about the wonderful time he had.  
The driver brought him to a private jet that flew him back to New York in no time.  
Another driver drove him to the mansion where Jarvis was already waiting. They exchanged a small hug, before Jarvis led him into the house. Nothing had changed really, everything was still as clean and as picture perfect as ever. Jarvis ushered him into his room and made him shower. The Gala would start at eight so they weren’t going to go before nine.  
Plenty of time to take a nap. When he woke up, it was already five in the afternoon and Jarvis had taken out the suit he was going to wear this evening. 

He still had time before he would need to wear it so he wandered out of his room towards the kitchen. He was hungry after the flight and his very long nap. In the kitchen, Jarvis was cooking. Tony didn’t know what exactly but it smelled amazing.  
But before he could ask Jarvis if he cold possibly have something a door was thrown shut upstairs and heavy feet hit the ground. Howard, Tony sighed internally, time to face the dragon. 

He snatched a bit of garlic bread of the table and went upstairs. He would have to meet his father eventually, and he would rather have it over now than later.  
He didn’t even need to go searching for him, Howard was already standing at the top of the stairs.  
“Hi, Dad.“ His voice was defiant, and he saw the anger in Howards eyes before he heard his voice. “Anthony, what a surprise, II thought I wouldn’t see you at all. Had fun away from work. You’ve been slacking, don’t think I haven’t noticed.“ Tony gritted his teeth. God, how much he hated that man. “I thought Jarvis informed you that I would spent Christmas away. And I haven’t been slacking I just didn’t have a computer there, you know.“He totally had been slacking, but Howard didn’t need to know that. It had just gotten too much especially with the little pet project he had at the side. Howard gave him a curt nod and turned away, strolling of to what was probably going to be a very empty bottle of wine very soon. 

It had gone surprisingly well, at least for their standards. There had been no fist and no screaming, a plus in Tonys books.  
He turned around and went bak down to the kitchen. Before he could say a word, Jarvis put a bowl of soup into his hand. “Eat up, young master it’s going to be a long evening.“ Tony sighed but nodded and sat down at the small table in the kitchen. It was a chicken soup and a good one. Not that anything Jarvis cooked was bad, that man was a master in the kitchen. 

On his way back to his room, he met his mother. She was hectic, on the move. She was always on the move really, she was nowhere long and she sure as hell had no time for a talk with her son but she smiled at him as she tottered on in her high heels. He didn’t meet either of his parents again until nine in the evening, when they met up in front of the mansion to go to the gala. His mother had dressed up in a Givenchy gown that probably cost more than a year of tuition at MIT an his father wore one of his best suits. Tony stood next to them feeling more out of place than ever before. The evening went on as they always did. He snagged champagne from the waiters that really didn’t care about his age as long as they got payed and he talked to masses of people that wanted to know how he did in college and if he could possibly somehow convince Howard of this deal or that contract. Tony smile for the press as they walked down the red carpet, the smile hurting in his face feeling more like a mask than ever before. Oh how he wanted to be in his lab right now, nothing would make him happier. The hand on his shoulder felt more like a threat than parental approval and Tony knew that that was what it was meant as.  
He began the New Year in a horde or people he didn’t know or didn’t want to know and he still felt so incredibly alone. That night he wasn’t really sober when he went to bad, he had at least five glasses of champagne and he woke up with the taste of something dead in his mouth and a headache. The best start to the new year. He still had to spent another week at home before he could flee to college which was really a bummer. Luckily, he knew that his parents would go back to another side of the world this afternoon at the latest so he would at least get to spent some time with Jarvis or better yet, down in the labs.  
The one goo thing about Howard were the labs. He had the bets labs in the world and Tony was allowed down there since he was eight. Besides ifJarvis made cupcakes, Tony would die. 

Everything went well for the entire week up until the last day. Howard had come back from his travels and was already at least tipsy. Howard was an angry drunk and he liked to talk to his son whilst he was drunk, so you can probably imagine how well their talks usually went.  
It wasn’t any different this times around.  
Tony was reluctant to enter the study were his father waited for him but he did it anyway, he knew from experience that letting Howard wait was not a good idea.  
“Finally, what took you so long to get here, where you playing with your useless robots again?“  
Tony gritted his teeth, “No, I was working on the missile engine for the company. And my robots aren’t useless.“  
Howard poured himself another drink from his impressive liquor cabinet. The sound of the honey colored liquid filling the glass was almost disturbingly loud to Tony.  
“Oh? Well, thats good. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you’ve been behind on your work. I should have never allowed you to go, it only filled your head with silly nonsense.“  
Tonys hand balled into a fist and it took all of his willpower not to just walk out of the door again.  
“I haven’t been lacking behind, besides why don’t you just do it yourself if you don’t like the way I work?“  
That had been the wrong thing to say, and Tony knew it before he had fully said it but now it was out and it felt damn good to have finally said something.  
“Oh you think you’re so funny, don’t you? Well, let me tell you something, son. I am your father and as such you should do whatever the fuck I want you to do. Be happy that I allowed you to go to MIT as it is.“ Tony didn’t say another word, he just turned and left. He knew thatHoward was too drunk to follow him and he would still be asleep when Tony would leave the next morning so he was relatively lucky. 

It wasn’t the first time that Howard had alluded to his displeasure of Tony going to MIT. Tony didn’t really know why, it was a good school and the press he was getting was amazing, but maybe, Howard just didn’t like seeing his son having actual fun for once in his life. He wouldn’t actually make Tony leave MIT, the press would be astronomically bad, but the threat was something that he could hang over Tony’s head as much as he wanted. He had to stop himself from screaming in frustration, his age was the problem. As a minor, his parents got to decide everything, otherwise it wouldn’t be such a fucking problem.  
Tony tip toed down to the bar and poured himself a drink. Jarvis wouldn’t approve but it was late and the old butler would already be in his quarters. He despised both his parents for their alcohol addictions but he had learned young that the best method to cope was alcohol which was readily available in the Stark mansion. He never really got drunk, he just drank a glass or two and everything looked better. 

Tony woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and the knowledge that he was finally going back. He had already packed his bags the day before and after a brief check in with Jarvis he was on his way.  
Rhodey was already back in their shared dorm and Tony would’ve hugged him if he wasn’t so damn reluctant to show his happiness. It didn’t matter either way, because Rhodey hugged him instead and in that very moment Tony was finally home. They might not have been living together for very long but he just knew that Rhodey would be there for the long run. 

In the following weeks Tony was drowning in work, it seemed like Howard had decided to pay him back for their little fight by giving him more and more projects. Tony already had about twenty patents to his name and every week new ones were added. He basically stopped sleeping at one point because it was simply not possible to do his course work and the SI work all at once. Especially with the exams coming up, it got harder and harder. He went to the little coffee shop on the Campus at least three times a day and he already drank two coffees at least in the labs. Really, Tony wouldn’t be surprised if his blood had turned black like his soul and coffee. 

When the exams truly began, Tony completely lost his sense of self. He felt like he was constantly hovering beneath his body, it was actually very concerning. He hoped it just came from the twelfth espressos he drank and not from something serious. He was absolutely terrified of his results. He couldn’t have a B much less anything below it. He needed straight A’s or he didn’t know what his father might do. He was actually usually pretty confident in his abilities but the exams made him worry more than he was ever comfortable in admitting. 

But in the end everything turned out fine, he aced all his classes and even got a few internship opportunities not that he needed them, really. 

However, it wasn’t all positive. Tony knew that the year was about to end which meant about two months of his parents scolding and the loneliness. He didn’t know how well he would adapt as he had been with other people for the entire year, and this time it had been fun. He would totally miss Rhodey and he even told him that in one of his rare Sentimental Moments ©.  
At least nobody would be home when he arrived, small mercies.  
He sometimes wondered how it would be if he had parents like Rhodey, parents who cared, but then he would stop wondering because it has been long since established that Tony Stark does not dwell on his sad family. 

They hugged a lot on that last morning and he knew that neither of them wanted him to leave but he had to.  
A few heartfelt words and Tony had to enter the car. He sighed, and already missed his honeybear more than he had ever expected to miss another person. 

This was going to be a long summer.

**Author's Note:**

> This is it! I hope you like it and if you have any thoughts opinions on this fic or if you'd like to request a certain fic im open for all kinds of prompts because Im bored, and I mean like a lot...  
> Anyway, next fic should be posted tomorrow or on Friday,  
> Bye,  
> Vio!


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